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CHICLES IMPROVEMENT WITH BLINKERS. By Ed Cole. New York, June 30. That blinkers are essential on some horses to make them do tiieir best was never better exemplified than in the case of Chicle, winner of the Brooklyn Derby at Aqueduct. Not until he was sent to the post in that event had the imported son of Spearmint and Lady Hamburg II. been equipped with the badge of a rogue. The difference blinkers made in his running is recorded in turf history, as he beat at least four of the best three-year-olds in the country. Few knew that Chicle had been worked in blinkers and covered a mile in 1:11. and a mile and an eighth in about 1:55 handily, with his exercise boy. Marshall, in the saddle, weighing nearly 130 pounds. He wore blinkers in that work and .he did the task so truly and evenly that trainer James Rowe concluded that blinkers were needed. His judgment proved correct. In Chicles five races he had shown marvelous speed at times and then quit like a hound. With light weight up he ran good races over a considerable distance of ground. Again he had quit in some of his races without apparent cause or distress. He has been a puzzle to trainer Rowe, but at last the hole in the blanket, as it were, has been discovered, and Chicle can now be expected to run truly. The Brooklyn Derby was somewhat disappointing, owing to the defeat of the favorite. Friar Rock. There is but one excuse for him and Hildreth claims it that the Brooklyn Handicap and the Derby were too close together. Friar Rock put in a hard trip in the handicap and the chances are that race dulled his speed and took the fine edge off him. In the Derby he neither had speed nor did he show an inclination to make his usual stretch sprint. It is true that he gave away weight to all his opponents and the task may have been too much for him, but he ran far below his form, there being no speed in the Derby to compare with that in the Handicap, yet he was never a serious factor. As for Spur, he dropped out of contention after making a bid for a mile and Star Hawk is not an exceptional horse or he would surely have given Chicle a more strenuous argument. In fact, he Ivirely beat Churchill, which has done little this year. These horses will all meet again some time, and at even weights, with Friar Rock fresh, there may be a different story written. As for Star Hawk, horsemen say Churchill was too close to him to make him out a real high-class horse. The time of the race, too, was anything but exceptional, compared with the time in the Brooklyn Handicap and the fast mile of Baybcrry Candle, in 1:3S with 120 pounds on her back. Pennant ran the first mile in the Brooklyn Handicap in 1:37.. while in the Derby Chicle was leading at the mile in 1:3S. These facts take much of the glitter from the Derby and from the contestants, as atmospheric conditions were put about tin; same as on the day the handicap was decided and the day Baybcrry Candle performed. It is yet an unanswered question which is the best three-year-old here and will remain so until Chicle, Friar Rock, Star IlaWk anil George Smith meet at even weights. Spur and Churchill can Ik? eliminated from consideration, they having had their chaice in the Derby. In speaking of Chicle, Charles T. Patterson relates an interesting story of his sire, Spearmint, which was told during a conversation with Danny Maher while Patterson was in England. He and Maher were "talking horse" anil Patterson asked Maher as to the best horse he ever rode. Without hesitation Maher answered, "Spearmint. There was a horse," said Maher, "which answered every call I ever put to him, no matter what part of the race it might be, when I asked him he went on. He seemed to have an abundance of reserve speed that he could utilize at any time no matter how fast the pace." Two imported horses winning first and second in the Derby will be water on the Englishmans wheel, but the true international test may not come until later in the season, probably at Saratoga, and there is some talk of offering a goodly prize for the star three-year-olds in a special race at even weights. It would be a great attraction.
